In this document, the terms used to describe embodiments are used in their plain-English equivalents without instance or usage per common patent documents. Therefore, the descriptions below are meant to be open-ended, that is, a system, device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to those listed are still deemed to fall within the scope of a claim and are not meant to be limiting in nature.
Repetitive-use, sports and occupational related distal limb injury is one of the leading causes of lameness and death among equine athletes. Incidence of lameness from all causes; repetitive-use or other sports related injury, occupational or mechanical injuries, is estimated to be 9-14 occurrences per year for every 100 equines. Other joints of locomotion are also in need of protection and support and therefore are not excluded from potential injury. Scientific Research shows materials that are in current use (neoprene, leather, hard polyurethane, rigid or semi-rigid) for the protection of equine distal limbs suffer from inherent flaws that increase the risk of injury to soft tissues. These risks include heat damage, allergic reactions, and strain from weight and/or mechanical injuries, see FIG. 7. Some risk of use comes from utility design and others are from textile characteristics. The material described here-in is particularly suited for the prime athlete or to return a previously injured athlete to duty, see FIG. 2D, as the properties of this material mitigate or eliminate said character flaws to prevent harm and aid in reducing pain, edema reduction, increase proprioception and assist with joint stabilization, FIG. 2C.
Several patents have been filed disclosing various systems of bracing equine limb joints. While many are still commercially available such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,458 (Detty), U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,627 (Scott), U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,627 (Vogt), U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,191 (Mitchell) and US2009/0288377 (Heid), the prior art has many disadvantages that need to be overcome. While the foregoing prior art for equine orthotic/bracing systems may be generally suited for their intended purposes, they are not meeting all recommendations for what is generally accepted as safe by scientific researchers. Furthermore, the need for improved resistance to accidental disconnection, strike protection and customization for therapeutic uses are desired.
There are various types of injuries sustained by the equine athlete. Common injuries include, tendonitis from sports related repetitive-use syndromes, contusions from over-reaching or striking an object, sprains, strains, torn cartilage and ultimately fractured limbs from soft tissue failure causing the joints to fall apart. These injuries are most common from equines or humans participating in rigorous activities in which they are subjected by training or sporting activities. Providing correct compression, see FIG. 4, has been shown to prevent injuries to soft tissues, increase athletic performance and decrease rehabilitation time.
Both Equine, see FIG. 5A, and Equestrians participating in equine sports or activities can suffer from similar fatigue strains, tears and pain as a result of the sport in which they participate. Equines and humans also share similar biometric parameters for blood pressure. Thus, ranges for safe athletic and therapeutic compression are established. Neoprene boots or orthotics, have been the standard for years to offer compression and protection to the equine limbs to support the distal limb tendon and ligament. However, equines use materials designed to accommodate the weight of a human (FIG. 8A); not designed with the force vector, force vector return to accommodate the forces of equine muscles (FIG. 8B) and tendon/ligament strain (FIG. 8C).
There are many down sides to neoprene products. It is a known allergen to susceptible horses and ponies; however, US Laws do not require a disclosure of such risk, although DuPont recommends it. In 2002 the European Union Dangerous Preparations Directive 1999/45/EC requires the risk to be noted and equine products ordered from the UK have an allergy warning label sewn in the product. For susceptible equines, each exposure increases the reaction. Owners who do not have a better alternative continue to use neoprene products with the presumption that a skin reaction is treatable and a joint failure, despite significant financial outlays often renders the animal unusable or needing to be humanely euthanized.
Due to the bulk of Neoprene, there is a bunching and gathering problem into the joint spaces, see FIG. 7. High-speed photography has captured images of neoprene and other bulky products like leather bunching, binding and migrating around the joints of an equine limb in motion, particularly when a joint is flexed. When the material gathers it becomes non-elastic and in effect loses its athletic compression under the bunch and may bind on the opposing side.
Neoprene and other non-porous materials are hot, see FIG. 2D, cause the skin to sweat and are known to cause overheating injuries to tendon and ligaments. An unprotected animals' tissue heats up naturally to within one degree of temperatures known to cause cellular damage. Applying an insulating layer of Neoprene alone or laminated to other base materials (Neoprene and leather, neoprene and rigid plastics or in an athletic situation creates temperatures that researchers have proven to be unsafe. Perforating Neoprene to add breathability is still comparatively hot, has a short lifecycle, offers lower rupture strength, and offers less compression in comparison.)
The plurality of laminations and elements, see FIG. 3, allows for unprecedented array of parameters and values to be determined for equine apparel with the functionality to monitor for said parameters and values. To illustrate without providing limitation: a parameter and value data sets can signal when therapeutic compression range (parameter) is nearing tolerance (value) and compare this relationally to limb temperature. The limb temperature (value) in relation to acceptable thermal variances (parameter) will also monitor for sufficient arterial blood flow via temperature changes to ensure the limb is being properly perfused in relation to the compressive forces to ensure intermittent or permanent pulse obliteration has not occurred from bend, stretch, flex, force and pressure exerted onto the tissues from the wrap, brace or bandage when the limb is stationary and while moving. Additionally, these parameter and value data sets ensure that injured tendon and ligaments do not suffer from impingement forces that would prevent tendon and ligament glide within their sheaths that would either cause or worsen a strain or tear. These forces also aid in aligning tendon and ligament fibers while healing to reduce misaligned scar tissue that can lead to impaired tendon or ligament function and chronic lameness.
Unlike prior art, an instance of plurality of the textile may include layers of conductive, semi-conductive Plezio, Resistive, Acoustic, Isolating, Magnetic layer(s), that will render the textile fit as an e-textile with electronics or organic electronics as the embodiments change for purpose of use.
The plurality of lamination and element for equine apparel that reduces or overcomes noted risk of neoprene, leather or other rigid to semi-rigid materials does not currently exist.
The significance of developing the plurality of lamination and element for developing an e-textile for specified parameters and values is paramount. The data that can be collected with an intelligent textile is needed to expand the working knowledge of the equine athlete or equestrian athlete musculoskeletal system for scientific and practical purposes; to aid in the reduction in the incidence of Tendon and Ligament Injuries that can lead to poor performance, lameness or catastrophic joint failures and fracture. It may also aid in reducing the incidence of re-injury that leads to chronic tendonitis, desmitis or osteoarthritis. Data can also aid in the development of stretch materials for the equine with the force vector, force vector return to specifically accommodate their body weight.
The present invention further improves upon the prior art by providing an intelligent textile to aid in defining and implementing parameters and values for non-destructive evaluations. The evaluations can be performed in a manner that does not affect the future usefulness of the body part in which it was applied. To give an example, at present, it is not possible to determine joint force or joint pressure readings without surgically inserting a probe into the subject equine or human joint. Locomotion of the equine or human to determine joint force and pressure readings at each gait, would result in destruction of the joint being tested due to A) surgical destruction and B) mechanical destruction from the probe. The intelligent textile can provide the support and protection needed for application of use, as in the case of performance apparel, with the exemplary embodiment of parameter and value. An example of exemplary embodiment would be monitoring of acoustic emissions, see FIG. 6, during the inventions use on a horse in a customary training situation. When the parameter and value for acoustic emissions hit a parameter and value set, the trainer, rider or handler could stop a performance to prevent an acute injury or delayed onset lameness by noting the sub-clinical micro-edema or micro-tears. Acoustic emissions with another parameter and value and parameter and value data set, would aid in evaluating the soft tissue and joint health of a rehabilitating equine, rider or other athlete being returned to use/work with reduced incidence of reinjury. Another exemplary embodiment would be a fabric stretch sensor to the distal joint of the equine or to a shoulder of a baseball player. As the athlete fatigues, the range of motion of the joints become affected. It a pitcher overthrows; the stretch sensor would trigger notifying that a micro-event has occurred that with continued use, would lead to injury. Much like a hyperextension of the equine fetlock joint would lead to injury if the animal was forced to continue to perform after an onset of fatigue event was signaled.
An example, but not by way of limitation, that may or may not be added to the intelligent textile could be an element that that modulates a frequency that requires low power; to an ultrasonic frequency for a pitch-catch scenario, a pulse-echo, a pulse-echo overlap scenario. To illustrate, see FIG. 6C-D, the orthogonally placed elements can send (pitch) and receive (catch) the modulated frequency. Frequency may include an ultrasound to sound measurement. With yet to be determined parameter and value sets; the parameter and value may or may not give an indication of joint and tissue status. Sound Physics gives us the base parameter and value sets to begin researching parameter and value; parameter and value sets for this application. It is known that the signal (sound) speed will change based on the increase of temperature. It is also known that the signal (sound) will be altered by the density; viscosity; or volume. Therefore using the references points provided by current multiphasic ultrasonic technology as a starting point, one can begin to determine parameter, value and parameter and value data sets for this application. Catching the speed in which the signal crosses the tissues and listening for the change of tone; one can begin to surmise sub-clinical changes to the underlying tissues. The tissues natural inflammatory response will increase the temperature beyond that of normal exercise and sustain it past the exercise recovery period; while exudates or micro edema begin to develop. Therefore, degree of inflammatory changes that may lead to acute injury, damage or breakdown could be detected at a much earlier stage than is currently possible. For the previously injured animal; the tissue recovery can be more closely monitored before returning the animal to duty. To give another illustration that is not to be considered restrictive in nature; the distal limb of the equine is the most fragile and prone to injury, breakdown and fracture. It is in theory possible to place orthogonal elements to triangulate a signal to monitor for micro-tears of the soft tissue, changes in bone density or cracks to find minute changes that are not otherwise visualized by current imaging techniques such as x-ray or standard ultrasound.
The Potential fields of application for these technologies and products include: veterinary and or medical evaluation and or diagnosis and or treatment; sports training and virtual exercise; it is possible to monitor for energy expenditure measurement; rate of fatigue onset while improving balance as the compression will assist with proprioception; improvements to avatar animation; computer and or virtual lameness simulations or diagnostic or predictive injury software or activity simulation such as virtual riding; tele-robotics or telemedicine; powering portable electronic devices under adverse and prolonged conditions; Equine and or human-to-computer interfaces for use in environments without clean flat surfaces; flexible Equine or human-to-computer interfaces; Equine or human-to-computer interfaces for 3D applications involving parameter and value manipulation; and sound masking and sound cancellation for creating localized sound environments for acoustic emission detecting, signaling and or receiving; or such devices in the scope of a computer, a processor, or any other structure. These are not to be construed as limitations to discount the potential for education, communications, military applications, veterinary medicine, medicine, telemedicine, sports medicine and orthotics and orthoses and or prosthetic development.